David O. Russell In Talks To Direct Russ Meyer Biopic

When they showed up at the Oscars only to lose the Best Director statue to Tom Hooper, both Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell seemed to have very specific, very audience-friendly projects lined up next. Aronofsky was going to make The Wolverine, Russell was going to make Uncharted, and they'd both be rich and happy. Of course now Aronofsky has walked away from The Wolverine, and while Russell is still committed to Uncharted, he's signing on for so many other projects I'm starting to wonder.

The latest movie to potentially get between Russell and the video game adaptation looks to be a biopic about the famous sleaze director Russ Meyer. According to Deadline Russell's in negotiations with Fox Searchlight to direct the project, written by Merritt Johnson and also including the rights to the Meyer biography by Jimmy McDonough. The film would cover the life and career of the famously independent director, behind movies like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Beyond the Valley Of The Dalls and known for both his fixation on gigantic breasts and the fact that he owned the rights to every single one of his films, retiring in the late 70s very, very wealthy. (He died in 2004)

With the relatively mainstream The Fighter behind him and Uncharted up ahead Russell seems to have been aiming to get away from his stranger, Flirting With Disaster and I Heart Huckabees roots. But really, the Meyer biopic sounds perfect for him, combining his penchant for human oddity with the skill he showed in The Fighter at telling a life story. There doesn't seem to be any indication he will, in fact, put this project ahead of Uncharted, though there's no production schedule set up for that one either. I don't think I'm alone, though, in looking forward to this one way more than any video game adaptation.